


Revenge (Should Be Piping Hot)

by TsarinaTorment



Series: International Rescue & Relief [16]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Although more like a one-sided tickle slaughter, Family, Fluff, Gen, Tickle Fights, Virgil is a hair diva and no-one's convincing me otherwise, brothers being brothers, do not touch the hair, irrelief, ribs make a good piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarinaTorment/pseuds/TsarinaTorment
Summary: The only aspect of his appearance Virgil cared about was his hair.
Relationships: Scott Tracy & Virgil Tracy
Series: International Rescue & Relief [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1671880
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	Revenge (Should Be Piping Hot)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gumnut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gumnut/gifts), [Hodgeheg002](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hodgeheg002/gifts).



> A fanfiction written for #irrelief, using gumnut-logic's prompt "He touched his hair" and hodgehegposts's prompt "One of the brothers being ticklish"

Gordon was not the one to look out for. Well, he _was_ ; if you didn't want to get pranked, then Gordon absolutely needed to be kept under supervision, but Gordon was smaller and younger and therefore easy enough to punish, once caught. He could be slippery at times, but Virgil had spent enough time with his squid brother to have handling him down to a fine art. One could almost say he was the best at it through sheer, constant exposure.

Nor was it Alan. The kid was still just that – a kid – and keeping him under control was a simple case of the right words at the right time. There was no particular trick to it – all four of them could keep Alan in line without too much difficulty, even if the aforementioned squid was less likely to keep him in line and more likely to encourage him, but that was teenagers for you.

No, the ones to watch were the older ones. He was stronger, but they were taller and older – and unafraid of using their age to their advantage when it suited. They were unafraid of retaliation, John untouchable for most of the year on Thunderbird Five, and Scott simply too much the big brother to let younger brothers get their own back.

He was relaxing on the sofa when Scott wandered past and mussed up his hair.

Virgil didn't think of himself as vain. He kept in shape because he had the big 'bird and the heavy gear to go with her – none of his brothers, older or younger, would ever stand a chance with his Jaws of Life, and even Scott had never dared prove him wrong. Paint or grease often found its way onto his clothes and skin, to Grandma's clucking if he dared try to sit on the furniture before washing up. But his one small vice, which his eldest brother knew full well (they all did, probably; Gordon had alluded to it, it was naïve to the point of stupidity to think John didn't, and Alan wasn't likely to be left out), was his hair.

"Scott!" he growled.

"Yes, Virgil?" His oldest brother had the audacity to stop and look at him, one eyebrow raised and a smirk playing across his lips and dancing in his eyes. Gordon would have run a mile by now – all the way to the coast and then dived into the sea. But Scott wasn't Gordon, and stood firm in his knowledge that as the eldest brother, he never needed to _flee_ from a younger sibling. Even one that could bench-press him.

Virgil heaved himself up off the sofa, all thoughts of taking a break forgotten, and stalked up the stairs to where Scott was stood, waiting.

Scott was the eldest, but Scott wasn't stupid. He didn't flee from younger brothers, but if he was feeling mischievous – and clearly he was right now, if he was messing with Virgil's hair – then he was quite content to dance out of arm's reach. Virgil got to within four feet before Scott moved, a single step back and side.

He'd only get one shot. Virgil was built for heavy lifting, but Scott was built for speed – the eldest might not _flee_ , but he was more than willing to lead a merry chase. Virgil was not falling into the trap of running all around the island after him, again. That was more Alan's thing.

One of the problems with an open-plan house was the lack of places in which to corner a brother. Stairs and hallways led off both ends of the lounge floor, and Scott was not above using his launch chute as an escape, either. The balcony was off-limits for this sort of hunt – there was always the risk of Scott miscalculating his retreat and falling, and it was a big enough drop that there would be injury.

It had happened, once. The whole family had learnt a valuable lesson about watching where they were going.

Gordon was the slippery fish, but he'd picked that up from somewhere, and attempts to herd Scott into somewhere he couldn't escape gave a pretty good indication _where_. Scott's amusement was tempered by the hint of wariness in his eyes as Virgil started picking his advances more carefully; the game of cat and mouse was officially on.

A step forwards and sideways had Scott going back and side, again. Repeat, and repeat again until they'd swapped positions and it was Scott's back to the sunken den. The amusement hadn't faded, and Virgil surmised that the planned escape route this time was indeed Thunderbird One's launch chute. That wasn't unusual – it was the best one; as the fastest way down to the bowels of Tracy Island, if Scott made it there he was impossible to catch.

Dad might have had something to say about inappropriate use of International Rescue technology, if he were there.

Virgil's own aim was the soft landing of the sofa he'd been lounging on peacefully before his brother decided he was in a playful mood and interrupted his relaxation, and as Scott made a step that would take him closer to the lamps in the wall, Virgil finally pounced.

Scott tried to make a run for it, but too little too late, and Virgil caught him bodily as they both fell towards the sofa. Instinct had him cradling the back of his brother's head before impact, and if that _happened_ to mess up Scott's perfectly gelled hair well so much the better.

"Oof!" Virgil was a solid tank of muscle, and no matter how strong Scott was, having that land solidly on top of him was enough to knock the breath out of his lungs.

"Got you." He grinned wolfishly down at his eldest brother as the chest beneath him heaved in an attempt to get air back.

"Virgil-" Scott managed, arms coming up to push at him. "Heavy…"

Scott might be faster and taller, but Virgil was stronger and resisted the attempts to dislodge him easily.

"I win," he said instead, genuinely pleased. Successfully catching his brother was fifty-fifty, and too many times he'd had to slink back to his room for more gel with no revenge. Oh, he always got him _later_ , but with Scott, revenge was best served hot. Serving it cold only meant he'd failed to get him once already.

This time, revenge was piping hot, and, well, he really couldn't keep _all_ the fun, could he?

"Gordon! Alan!" he yelled, and blue eyes widened.

"Virgil _no_ ," Scott pleaded. Virgil just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Should have thought this through, shouldn't you?" he quipped, shifting his weight on top of his brother's fruitless struggles to better pin him before his fingertips – dexterous from years of piano playing – found the bottom of Scott's shirt and nudged it up enough to expose the sides of his ribs.

Big brother had a weakness, and that weakness was ticklish ribs.

"No!"

It was clearly supposed to be an order. It came out a shriek as Scott tried and failed to writhe away from his fingers.

If Virgil's shout hadn't summoned the youngest two, _that_ certainly did.

"Are we tickling Scott?" Alan asked, eyes fixed on the squirming form of his eldest brother. "Cool!"

Gordon was slightly more astute; Virgil watched his eyes flick to the state of his ruined hair, before a grin split his face.

"Hey, Al," he said. "You take the right arm. I'll take the left."

"Wha-" Scott attempted to protest, only to be cut off by another shriek as Virgil continued his assault. " _No!_ "

"Thanks, guys," Virgil acknowledged as flailing arms were captured. Scott might be stronger than the youngest two, but they had more than enough strength to imprison one arm each, leaving Virgil free to attack with both hands.

One of the best tactics was to play Scott's ribs like a piano, feather-light touches that danced across him as he squirmed. Virgil hummed the melody as he played, choosing a familiar song, and it didn't take either of the blonds long to start singing along, drowning out Scott's pleas and shrieks.

Tears were trailing down his cheeks, eyes screwed shut, by the time Virgil decided to take a break, stilling his fingers and resting the palms of his hands on his brother's chest. It rose and fell deeply, Scott gasping for breath and flinching when Alan ran a finger along the length of his arm.

"Well?" Virgil asked, and a teary blue eye squinted open to look at him.

"I hate you."

"No you don't," Virgil corrected, tapping his fingers against taut skin and watching Scott freeze. "Want to try that again?"

He got a defiant glare and let his fingers run down the side of Scott's ribs again, watching his brother squirm.

"Just give it up, Scott," John said. They all looked over to the holoprojector, where he was floating with an amused look on his face. "They won't stop until you do."

The blue eyed glare found a new focus, before Virgil ran his fingers back up the ribs and Scott's eyes squeezed shut again.

"Come on, big brother," he coaxed. "You know John's right."

A hiss escaped from between clenched teeth, and Gordon joined Alan in running feather-light fingertips along the imprisoned arms.

"Just two words," Virgil continued. "You know what they are."

"One starts with 'I'," Alan chipped in helpfully.

"The other starts with 's'," Gordon finished, and Scott groaned.

"Okay," he dragged out reluctantly. "I'm sorry, Virgil."

Virgil looked at his younger brothers. Both shrugged, and he shrugged in response before moving his fingers again. Scott let out another shriek.

"Apology accepted," he said amenably. "But that's not what we're looking for and you know it."

"Virg-" Scott started, but Virgil ignored him, striking up a new melody on his rib-piano, tearing more shrieks and pleas from his brother's lips as he fought to get free with no success. "Vir-"

Virgil continued to hum as his brothers joined him in song, even John. Scott's attempts to get free got more and more frantic, but against three of his younger brothers, he couldn't even get a single limb back under his control.

" _Ider!_ "

Virgil paused, fingers stilling against taut skin again at Scott's shriek.

"I didn't quite catch that," he said. "Care to repeat it?"

Scott panted hard, eyes once again squinting open to glare at him.

"Fine," he ground out. "I… I surrender."

Virgil chuckled, leaning back and tugging Scott's shirt back down, where it should be. Taking their cue, Gordon and Alan released their captive arms.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"I still hate you," Scott grumbled, pulling himself into a sitting position as Virgil finally got off of him. " _All_ of you," he added, shooting a glare at the holographic ginger, who just grinned back at him before signing off.

"We love you, too, Scotty!" Gordon declared, and as Virgil backed off Scott found himself with a lap full of the terrible two as they snuggled up to him, wrapping their arms around him tightly.

Scott sighed and let his head fall back. Virgil smirked down at him and mussed his hair to a groaned protest before wandering off.

He had a hairstyle to fix.

**Author's Note:**

> IRRelief is an amazing idea and bless Gumnut for coming up with it! For those that don't know, it's a collection of prompts anyone can add to and use on tumblr, with a focus on fluff, to give us something to do while we're stuck indoors. [Full details are here](https://nutty.gumnut.net/irrelief/)


End file.
